Nerdiest Awards Show Ever

Awards season is teeming with red carpet sightings, but none can be as exciting to me as seeing Bill Nye the Science Guy in his signature bow tie.

The setting was the S.E.T. Awards, produced by the Entertainment Industries Council, presented to film, TV, and other media for "accurate and impactful entertainment portraying and promoting the fields of science, engineering, technology and mathematics."

That's right, awards for best nerdiness. I was there.

I brought my friend Manish, a fellow MIT grad turned actor/writer/producer. (You can watch his awesome feature Kissing Cousins on Netflix!)

We snagged a quick picture on the red carpet ourselves --

Better than our first attempt - this is me demonstrating how to use my point-and-shoot to someone who's apparently never used a camera before - just push the button!

Then we settled back to watch the stream of random celebrities attending the event. Mostly strangers, like this guy (who will reappear later in this blog post) --

To surprising appearances, like Sarah Brightman from the original Phantom of the Opera! Turns out she sponsors a STEM Scholarship for high school girls interested in math and science. Go Sarah!

The ballroom was dressed to the nines --

The awards ceremony was filled with delightful nerdiness - Star Trek transporter sound transitions, a flying robot host, and appearances by a NASA astronaut, a legendary Disney Imagineer, and the founder of Atari.

The best moment - the random guy from the red carpet pic above, a producer for Through the Wormhole on Science Channel, ending his acceptance speech by yelling, "Science! F#%K YEAH!"

The worst moment - Michael Bay getting an award for Armageddon, a movie in which scientists fail and a bunch of miners led by Bruce Willis save the day. How is that an accurate and impactful portrayal of science? Boo.

More highlights from the awards --



During the awards, we learned that Dolph Lundgren received a Fulbright Scholarship to get his PhD in Chemical Engineering at MIT, but decided to become an actor instead. How's that for nerd cred? Manish kept saying, "It's Ivan Drago!" We had to get a picture --

Managed to catch Michael Bay and Bill Nye on the red carpet on the way out. Talk about an unusual juxtaposition --

Thanks to the Entertainment Industries Council for a great afternoon! Can't wait to win one of these awards myself!